Amistad’s LGBTQ collections grew with the 2011 Larry Bagneris papers donation.
North Carolina entrepreneur Mary Richardson tailors a successful career in Harlem
Lerin Williams
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In the February 1950 issue of Ebony Magazine, Mary Richardson was listed in a who’s who of African-American women that thrived after their divorces by becoming entrepreneurs. Included among the list were Fleecie Jordan (bandleader Louis Jordan’s ex-wife), who owned properties in Chicago and Arizona; Fisk University music professor and concert pianist Lois Towles; and Nadine Cole, ex-chorus performer-turned-owner of multiple properties and co-owner of a bonding agency, who was previously married to Nat King Cole. Mrs. Richardson was described as a “successful New York modiste with elite Park Avenue clientele.” Rounding out the list were Hazel Shumate, a traveler, newspaper columnist and freelance photographer; and Ada Shumate, who owned a diagnostic lab that ran tests for other local physicians in California.
Prior to her flourishing career as a stylist and designer in New York, Mary Richardson’s path began on a farm in the rural south in Greensboro, North Carolina. Born on July 5, 1898 to parents Richard and Viney Davis Morehead, Mary Morehead was the youngest of many children. She spent her childhood surrounded by nature and animals. At 18 years of age in 1916, Mary Morehead attended the Kent Home industrial school for young women, which would later become Bennett College. She relocated to New Britain, Connecticut following her marriage to Robert A. Richardson in 1921. Eight years later, Mrs. Richardson gave birth to her only daughter, Rena. Upon relocation to New York in 1930, she established a dressmaking business.
Over the next few years, Mrs. Richardson would become the designer and fitter for celebrities and elites such as Princess Grace Kelly Grimaldi, Loretta Young, Sophie Tucker, Barbara “Bobo” Rockefeller and Jules Stein. Juxtaposed with her ascent to success was one episode of particularly devastating misfortune. In 1935, her daughter died at the age of six due to rheumatic fever. Richardson would design and tailor an Easter dress to donate to a child every year thereafter in honor of Rena. Mary Richardson was named editor and contributor of the fashion column, “So, Sew Prettily,” in the Louisville Defender in 1940. Her articles explored a variety of topics that included ways that women could establish autonomy through entrepreneurship as designers and modistes; instructions on how to repurpose one’s wardrobe; and advice on how to invest the savings earned from handmaking household items, in order to navigate the difficulties of inflation in an uncertain economy.
Mary Richardson was one of the first African Americans to maintain full-time residence in the famous Hotel Theresa in Harlem. She loved the arts and extended her home, providing nourishing meals and lodging for itinerant professionals while they were in Harlem for rehearsals or auditions, including Anne Wiggins Brown (Gershwin’s first Bess in Porgy and Bess), and soprano Joy Simpson of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Over the years, Mary Richardson established a network of friends, and participated in organizing events, one of which was for the NAACP. She collaborated with the Golden Tours of India to tailor a 29-day excursion to six different countries for the NAACP National Department of Tours in 1974.
She also knew a range of politicians, philanthropists, musicians and writers. One piece of correspondence is from Alex Haley, author of The Autobiography of Malcolm X, who is sending well wishes from his travels and reflections on his upcoming eight-year work-in-progress, Roots.
Mary Richardson passed away in her beloved New York City on December 30, 1989.
This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services [MH-245560-OMS-20]. Any views, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this blog post do not necessarily represent those of the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
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Kathe Hambrick is the Founder and former Executive Director of the River Road African American Museum (RRAAM), established in 1994 as Louisiana’s first African American Museum. She is a past President of the national Association of African American Museums (AAAM). She served as the Chief Curator and Director of Interpretation for the West Baton Rouge Museum for four years. Hambrick was born in New Orleans and spent half her life in California where she received an undergraduate degree in English and a minor in African American Studies from California State University Long Beach.
Hambrick is a Public Historian with a passion for collecting, preserving and interpreting history for diverse audiences. Her thirty-one-year career as a museum professional includes expertise in program development, interpretative planning, curation, grant writing, fundraising, and board governance. She led the effort to preserve three slave cemeteries and six historic buildings in Ascension Parish.
She is considered an expert on the history and culture of African Americans in communities along the Mississippi River. Kathe Hambrick’s interviews include local, national, and international media, the BBC Learning Channel, CBS Morning News, National Public Radio, and the New York Times. The consulting firm, 2PRESERVE was established by Hambrick in 2021 to provide cultural resources and guidance to corporations, museums, cultural centers, government agencies, and faith-based organizations.
Throughout her 31-year career, Kathe has curated over one hundred exhibits, including The Rural Roots of Jazz, African Influences on Louisiana Cuisine, Creole Du Monde, and The Square Collection which featured original art by Elizabeth Catlett, Jacob Lawrence, Richmond Barthé, and Tina Allen. Her most recent exhibit is the GU272 of Ascension: The Jesuit and Episcopal Connection to Slavery.
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Kathe Hambrick is the Founder and former Executive Director of the River Road African American Museum (RRAAM), established in 1994 as Louisiana’s first African American Museum. She is a past President of the national Association of African American Museums (AAAM). She served as the Chief Curator and Director of Interpretation for the West Baton Rouge Museum for four years. Hambrick was born in New Orleans and spent half her life in California where she received an undergraduate degree in English and a minor in African American Studies from California State University Long Beach.
Hambrick is a Public Historian with a passion for collecting, preserving and interpreting history for diverse audiences. Her thirty-one-year career as a museum professional includes expertise in program development, interpretative planning, curation, grant writing, fundraising, and board governance. She led the effort to preserve three slave cemeteries and six historic buildings in Ascension Parish.
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